Method and apparatus for making up and forwarding freight trains



April 27', 1926.

I W. H. SMITH METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING UP AND FORWARDING FREIGHT TRAINS Filed Nov. 22, 1923 EVEN NUMBERS NORTHWARD BLOCKS ODD NUMBERS SOUTHWARD BLOCK;

WATER VALLEY I4 HMANGH Patented Apr. 27, 1926 issznse WILLIAM HARRY SMITH,"OF CLINTON, ILLINOIS.

METHOD: AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING AND FORXIVARDING FREIGHT TRAINS.

Application filed November 22, 1923. Serial No; 676,4:59.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM .HARRY SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and resident 'of Clinton, De lVitt County,Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Methods and Apparatus for lvlaking Up and Forwarding Freight Trains,

of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention contemplates a new and advantageous method of making up and routing freight trains, the object being to facilitate and expedite the transportation of freight on railroads, with a view to reducing this character. l-Iowever, as mixedtrains of.

this character travel toward the destinations of the various groups or blocks of cars,fadditional cars are added from time to time, to their respective groups or blocks. I Ordinarily, of course, a freight train is limited to one hundred cars, under present practice, and a train after reaching some intermediate point may be broken in two inorder to take the waiting freight cars into their respective groups or blocks, without enlarging any train beyond the limit imposed by ordinary practice. Thismethod is continued, as the trains move along in the direction of the various destinations of the different groups or blocks of cars, and each train gradually becomes less of a mixed train and more of a solid block, until finally each train contains cars for only one destination. \Vhen a train becomes a: solid block, so to speak, and contains cars for onlyone destination, the invention then contemplates the dispatching or taking of this train through to its destination Without further stops, so that each train which has become a solid block will then proceed without stopping to pick up any more freightcars which may be waiting I .on any ordinary railroad system, inasmuch as cars for all dest nationsare started mov ing from one end of the system toward the other in the usual manner, so that no cars are held back; but, at'the same time, as explained, cars of like destination are gradually grouped into blocks by themselves, as quickly as possible, so that solid trains each including only cars for one destination are very soon made up and are soon traveling as through trains toward the other end of the system.

' For the practice of the new method constituting this invention, it is contemplated that maps will be en'iployed, with the different cities or pointsnumbered, each cityor point having two numbers, and the numbers being all even from one end of the system to the other, and being all odd in the other direction, It is also contemplated that certain printed rules and'regulations carrying out the method will be employed as part of the physical means of p noticing the invention. c

To the foregoing and other useful ends the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and described in the a companying drawings in which- The single figure is a railroad map of an ordinary railroad system, showinghow" the different cities or points or destinations for freight are numbered with even numbers in one direction, and with odd numbers in the other direction, in a method and apparatus embodying the principles of the invention;

As thus illustrated, the railroad system shown and described is, as will be seen, that of the well known Illinois Central'Railroad Company, which system terniinatesi'n the south at New Orleans, and inthe'nm th at Chicago, with a western branch terminating at Omaha, Sioux City and adjacent, towns and cities. It will be seen that each town or city has two'numbers, the lllllllbOlS beginning with 2 at New Orleans and beingall even as they progress toward the north, and the numbers being all odd, as they progress from the north towardthe south in the other direction. The utility .of this numbering will hereinafter more fully appear.

The operation of the invention will perhaps be best understood by an example as follows: Assume that a train is made up at New Orleans and started north with twentyfive cars for Chicago, twenty-five cars for Louisville, twenty-five cars for St. Louis, and twenty-five cars for Mounds, this being a train of one hundred cars which is supposed to be the limit under present practice. At McComb the loading which has reached that point from intermediate stations be tween there and New Orleans is switched into their respective blocks and added to the train from New Orleans. In other Words,

let it be assumed that at McComb there are some cars waiting for Chicago and some for Louisville, some for St. Louis and some for Mounds. Such being the case there are now too many cars for one train. Consequently, the train is broken in two, and each train will then comprise two blocks, or twogroups of cars. Assume that at Gwin this performance is repeated with the result that three trains are formed, of two blocks each. Thereafter, at Nonconnah sufficient additional freight for the same destinations has been picked up to form four solid trains, so that the four blocks which left New Orleans have accumulated into four solid trains. All further switching iseliminated, for each solid train will go straight through to its destination without further stops for any switching in or switching out of cars. A block, as it will be observed, is a group of cars for the same destination, and in one sense is the destination itself. Certain rules will be promulgated and printed as follows:

1. Even numbers designate northward and odd numbers southward blocks.

2. Assembly points where switching service is maintained shall be known as originating and district terminals.

3. Originating terminals shall assemble loading in block order, maintaining highest block number on rear and lowest block number on head end of train.

4. In order to accumulate loading into solid blocks, cars must be classified by district terminals according to block numbers and added to passing blocks in numerical order.

5. District terminals must not forward loading until arrival of corresponding block from the next terminal point beyond.

6. Manifest and perishable must be classified and forwarded separately from dead freight.

7. Empty cars, except those billed to a destined point, must be handled according to special instructions.

Towns and cities, or destinations, will have certain relations to each other, in any ordinary railroad system, and this will be better understood by explaining how the freight train classification will work out in the particular system shown and described,

as follows:

Terminal. Designated.

Originating.

District.

District.

Originating. District. Originating. District.

Do. Originating. District.

Do. Originating. District. Originating. District.

Do. Originating.

Do. Do.

From the foregoing it will be seen that mixed trains are started from one end of the system, in the usual way, but that thereafter these trains only stop for loaded cars for the same destinationsthat is to say, cars which have been loaded for the same destinations as those of the different blocks included in the trains which, for example, are moving north in the manner explained. A mixed train comprising two or more blocks will stop to take in cars which have been loaded and which are in the same classification, as explained in the example given, but any cars' for other destinations which have been loaded at intermediate points will wait for mixed trains which include the blocks to which these cars belong. Very soon, therefore, in the movement of freight in this manner, the respective blocks are increased in size until each block constitutes a train in itself, and when a train is formed from one solid block, or from cars all marked for the same destination, such a train then proceeds as a through train and does not stop at any intermediate points for any further switching in or out of cars, but to the contrary will go straight through to the ultimate destination, thus saving considerable time and trouble and expense in the handling of freight. Cars are picked up at intermediate points, therefore, as soon as their corresponding blocks arrive, and then they are absorbed into these blocks, and gradually one train will become two or more trains, and gradually each train becomes a solid block composed of cars all bound for the same city or town or destination.

Moreover, it will be seen that when the mixed trains are started, and thereafter for awhile, in accordance with Rule 3, the highest block number will be maintained at the rear of the train, and the lowest block number at the head thereof, in order .to facilitate switching and the gradual reduction of each train to a solid block of cars all bound for the same destination.

Of course, with the method and apparatus shown and described, it will be seen that stations or destinations are provided, each having two numbers, one number being odd and the other even, whereby the trains moving in one direction will have cars with only even numbers thereon,while trains moving in the opposite direction will have cars having only odd numbers thereon. For example, any cars moving north in the system shown and described, will have the numeral 22, if they are destined for Jackson, and will have the numeral 52 it they are destined for Chicago. On the other hand, any cars moving east and south from Omaha, for example, will have the numeral 13 thereon it they are destined for Chicago, and will have the numeral 43 thereon it they are destined for Jackson, so that Chicago must have two numbers, and Jackson. must have two numbers, and other stations must be similarly equipped on the map or chart, or in any other method of practicing the method of starting mixed trains and gradually converting them into solid through taiins for their respective destinations.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The method of making up and forwarding freight trains on a railway system having di'i'lerent designations, comprising the starting of any mixed trains with the cars thereof in groups, with the groups each bearing one of the two designations of its destination in trains moving in one direction in the system, and with the groups bearing the other designation of said destination in trains moving in the opposite direction, so that one set of designations is used by trains in one direction and another set by trains in the opposite direction, whereby each group is a block representing a certain destination, picking up cars of like destination at intermediate points, absorbing these additional cars into their respective blocks, dividing any mixed train when it becomes too large,

and thus reducing each block to a solid train of cars for one dGSilllltltlOD only, so that each block when segregated into a sepa rate train may proceed intact and finally the stopping places each allotted two arrive as a single train and without further switching until the destination of the train is reached, and whereby cars are started in mixed trains which are gradually converted at intermediate points into solid trains that proceed unbroken to their respective destinations.

2. A method as specified in claim 1, including the holding of cars at intermediate points until the arrival of trains containing blocks corresponding to these waiting cars, so that mixed trains or trains which are still more or less mixed will only stop where cars of the same destination are found waiting to be incorporated in one or more of the blocks of which suchtrains are composed.

A method as specified in claim 1, iiic-lu-ding the numbering of the ditt'erent blocks, such numbering corresponding to the destinations ot' the different blocks, and maintaining the highest block number on the" rear of the train and the lowest block number at the head of the train.

41-. A method as specified in claim 1, including the use of even numbers for the different destinations in one direction on the. system, and'the use of odd numbers for the same destinations in the other direction, so that each destination will have an even number and an odd number, and whereby mixed trains proceeding in one direction will contain blocks bearing odd numbers, while mixed trains operating in the opposite direction will contain blocks bearing even numbers. i

5. Apparatus for use in making up and forwarding freight t 'ains, by the method specified in claim 1, comprising a map of the railroad system, with the diiierent destinations indicated thereon, even numbers for the destinations in one direction on the system, and odd numbers for these same destinations in the other direction, whereby there are stations each having an even number and an odd number, so that trains moving from one end of the system will use odd numbers to designate cars included therein, each car having the number of its destination, while trains moving in the other direction will employ even numbers to designate the cars included therein, whereby each designation has two different designations or names, so that trains moving in opposite directions use diliierent designations for the same destination or station.

WILLIAM HARRY SMITH. 

